Brushes with stardom: Meeting famous people thread

[Ranching]

I've met people that have met people before!

I know that guy!!!!

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

I'm sure some of you have some great stories about meeting famous people. I'd love to read some of them. I worked in special events in college so I actually got to meet quite a few famous musicians. But one of my favorites was just a few years ago:

My buddy is a roadie who has worked sound, lighting and stage production for a number of famous acts. He was with Rush, a longtime favorite of mine, a few years back and he knew I was a gigantic fan. So when the band came through Kansas City on tour he asked if I wanted to come see the show. Well it turned out that Kansas City was the last stop on that tour - it was the Clockwork Angels tour if I recall correctly. So the band actually had it's end of tour party for the crew in Kansas City the night before the final show. They rented out a bowling alley across the street from Sprint Center and had it catered with some of the best local BBQ and the band and crew partied there for a few hours. Turns out Neil Peart is a big bowler. My buddy was able to get me and my wife into the party.

It was pretty low key. Just a few drinks and food and bowling. Peart stayed at his lane the whole time bowling frame after frame. Alex Lifeson just sat at the bar and drank. But Geddy Lee was going around and socializing with everybody. Paul Rudd showed up and hung out for a while and he was pretty sociable, too. It was a pretty cool experience, especially for my wife who is a huge Rudd fan.

The show the next night was great, too. We had seats in the middle of the floor in the front row of the second section. Rudd made a cameo during the set where he "slapped the bass".

I saw the band play a few times over the years, too bad it will never happen again. They were fantastic live, even with everybody in their 60s.

That's a awesome story, you should have went up to Peart and said "I can't pretend a stranger Is a long awaited friend" mind if I bowl with yas? Sounds about right though about Alex drinking and Geddy going around and chatting it up with everyone. I love Zeppelin and the Beatles among others but if someone told me Rush was the greatest band of the last 40-50 years they would have no argument from me. Loved them since the 70s, and have seen them 3 times, once in 80, once in 86 and opening night in Tulsa for the R40 tour.

To answer the original question though I have met a few wrestlers in my time, mainly late 70s, early 80s. Got to go backstage and meet Ted Nugent who came across as arrogant and full of himself{I wont repeat what he said}. Also met the guys in Quiet Riot who were pretty much pricks sans Rudy Sarzo.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

I've met Larry Allen several years ago outside the stadium. Very nice guy. Quiet.
Looks like he could still maul DTs.
Met Ron Leary at one of those free meet and greets at the stadium - he said I should go talk to "those girls" - pointing to the cheerleaders who were about 100 ft away.
Also, Claiborne is pretty nice - Jason Hatcher was pretty dry.

 

[Runwildboys]

I haven't met many famous people, other than Emmitt, when he signed my painting of him, and Novacek, at a different autograph event.

I used to have a kid on my little league team who acted on a soap opera, and I know another soap actor, who ended up with his own short lived series, costarring with Denise Richards. I was with one of my nieces, at the bar I used to bounce in, and when I went to introduce her to him I could see on her face that she already knew who he was. Lol. Only time I've ever seen her blush.

 

[lukin2006]

My are few and far between...

Bob Probert (probably one of the greatest NHL tough guy ever)
Daryl Sittler (NHL)
Paul Coffey (NHL)
Gordie Howe (NHL)
Larry King (Rodeo Drive)
Taylor Hall (NHL MVP, I have a hat signed after he won his second memorial cup)

 

[SlammedZero]

I did actually forget a story!!! My one brush with someone famous! Eminem went on a concert tour called The Anger Management Tour. That tour had a stop in Boise. My buddy and I were down in the floor section and in between artist sets we made our way to the side of the floor. We were up against these railings that were creating a walkway to the front stage area. We were just chatting, not paying attention to anything around us, when we heard "Hey! What's up Boise, Idaho!?". We both spun around and standing there was Xzhibit with his video recorder looking right at us (this was early 2000s before cell phone recording). So we did a couple early 20 year old fanboy poses and said a few things and he went on his way. So it's possible I'm on one of Xzhibit's home videos. Haha.

He's not even that huge of a star but that's the best I got.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

I've got plenty of stories, many of them uninteresting - many celebrities act no different from "regular people" - having worked special events in college and in the sports media for quite a few years after college.

One fun brush I had was while in college. I was up in Ruidoso, NM, which is a popular ski town in southern New Mexico. Ted Turner and Jane Fonda used to hang there quite a bit. I think they owned a cabin on the mountain. Anyway, there is a decent steak house in town called Cattle Baron and I was waiting for a table on a Saturday evening. A popular time for sure and the place was plenty busy. Ted and Jane walked in, and Jane went up to the host to ask for a table. The gentleman who was the host told Jane it would be at least 45 minutes before they could be seated.

Jane pitched a little fit. Pulled the "don't you know who we are?" card. The host simply smiled and said, "Yes, I know who you are and what you stand for. Your chances of getting a table anytime soon are between slim and none."

Needless to say Jane and Ted sought dinner elsewhere.

 

[CouchCoach]

Got two about meeting Cowboys. Here's the first.

Star Wars had been out about 3 months and my older son had already seen it 7 times, twice with just the two of us. I thought he was obsessed or maybe possessed. I had been a dutiful father and indoctrinated him into all things Cowboys and had that not taken I would have checked the going rate on 7 year old's with a band of gypsies.

I see that Harvey Martin is having an autograph session and ask my son if he wants to go and while Roger was his favorite player, he really liked Harvey second best and I really did not know why but I was about to find out.

The line was pretty long when we got there and the time was running out on the session but we still got there with the guy and his son behind us as the last to get to meet him as it was already 20 minutes past the end. My son his wearing his Star Wars t shirt, actually one of several.

We get there and he's affable and signs the 8 x 10 and shakes my hand with something like a hand only 3 x larger, that was the second largest hand I ever shook. He asks my son "so you're a Star Wars fan"? Mistake, because fan doesn't quite cover it. He asks us to hang around and signs the next photo and asks my son to come around the table and sit down across form him.

These two begin to discuss everything about Star Wars, favorite parts, characters, you name it, they're discussing it. They had to have talked for 10 minutes and his session had been over for 30, he wasn't required to stay. I am watching my son deep in this conversation with the largest 7 year old on the planet. I might as well have wondered off to Victoria's Secret for my involvement but I was enthralled watching this pro athlete spend time he didn't have to with a kid.

When we got home, my son was off the wall and my wife was laughing at how excited he was and becoming a Harvey Martin fan quickly. I told her if Jesus comes back soon and Josh gets to meet Him, going to be a big letdown.

I know Harvey had a little trouble later on and as I read the account in the paper, I thought to myself 'that's not the Harvey we know'.

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

I used to work as a golf pro, and the town I lived in hosted a coaches clinic every year so I met a lot of coaches. Nick Saban, Barry Switzer, Joe Avezzano, Tom Herman, and Jimbo Fisher just to name a few. These guys would hit a couple of hours of the clinic then all go play golf. Most I just met, but I actually played 3 rounds with Switzer over the years and 1 with Avezzano. I know there isn't much love on this forum for Switzer, but he was one of the most genuine down to earth guys I ever met and it was like playing with your grandfather.

I met Mark Cuban in The Caymans just this last Spring Break. He was another down to earth guy who was friendly and signed a bunch of autographs and took pictures with people on the beach. I'm not a BB guy and I know a lot of people don't like Cuban either, but I thought he was a pretty cool guy.

 

[CouchCoach]

OK, now for the second and why this man is my favorite athlete of all time.

I was part of forming a new company in 1980 and Roger Staubach's first commercial real estate venture was an office complex with 3 two story buildings off of the LBJ/Preston area and we got the second floor of one of them.

We'd been there for about 4 months when they filled the offices and had a welcoming cocktail party for all of the tenant companies and Roger was going to be there. He was my favorite Cowboy as well as my older son's but it wasn't a thing for kid's so I couldn't take him.

I saw Cliff Harris right off and went over and introduced myself as being from Arkansas and all Arkansas people are required to be kind to other Arkansans.....outside the state lines. He was a nice guy and I was impressed that a guy his size could gain the title of Captain Crash. But then I see Captain Comeback and wait for him to work his was over because I don't want to seem anxious even though his security could have had me arrested for open lusting.

He comes over and introduces himself and I think 'how weird is this? The most famous guy in the room introducing himself to me' but I keep that to myself. He's really friendly and I tell him what company I am with and what we do and I tell him how he's my son, Josh, not only favorite football player but athlete ever and he's gracious and asks how old he is. Now, it is important to note here that I am not the principal of my company, just a guy, and Roger does not have a "trailer" with him that famous people have to remember names and I have only said my son's name once and more in passing than emphasis. I get home and tell the fam who I just met and they are impressed. Ya see, that's the cool thing, I did nothing but they were impressed. My wife was much more impressed than when I did nothing around the house.

The next morning, the receptionist calls me to tell me someone is at the front to see me. There is a lady from Roger's company and she hands me an envelope in which there is an 8 x 10 photo of Roger with a personal message to Josh across the front and a hand written note to me that he enjoyed meeting me last night. I am speechless, not a common occurrence, thank her and go back to my office. That conversation lasted all of two minutes and I am a nobody that he's just encountered along with a hundred other people and remembers not only that conversation but my son's name? Hell, normal people don't do that, let alone a guy that meets people all the time.

My son still has that as well as his Harvey "Star Wars Buddy" Martin's signed photo. That is how Harvey signed the second photo he gave to my son.

I see all of this crap about these athletes that the media just loves to hammer into us and when I get disgusted, I just recall those two instances and I am OK. I tell you, the deal with Roger was special because he was special to me but the scene I replay in my head when I see all of this negativity is that of Harvey and my son deep in a conversation. It's that Joe Greene Coke commercial only this was real.

 

[CouchCoach]

I used to work as a golf pro, and the town I lived in hosted a coaches clinic every year so I met a lot of coaches. Nick Saban, Barry Switzer, Joe Avezzano, Tom Herman, and Jimbo Fisher just to name a few. These guys would hit a couple of hours of the clinic then all go play golf. Most I just met, but I actually played 3 rounds with Switzer over the years and 1 with Avezzano. I know there isn't much love on this forum for Switzer, but he was one of the most genuine down to earth guys I ever met and it was like playing with your grandfather.

I met Mark Cuban in The Caymans just this last Spring Break. He was another down to earth guy who was friendly and signed a bunch of autographs and took pictures with people on the beach. I'm not a BB guy and I know a lot of people don't like Cuban either, but I thought he was a pretty cool guy.

We went to Switzer's restaurant and he was there and came over and was really friendly and nice and when my wife told him we were Arky's, he bought us a cocktail.

JB, the biggest joke on these forums is that Switzer couldn't coach, total BS. He's the reason Jimmy Johnson went into coaching and Booger wanted to but wanted to make money more. Switzer was a hell of a coach but the man had retired and came out because a friend asked him and the first thing he did was try and patch it up between the two "knotheads". Barry Switzer is good people.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

Coach, your post jogged a memory I had about a famous former athlete and his unbelievable personality.

When I was starting out in sports media, at least in my first "real" job after college, I was in Kansas City covering my first MLB game. I was being shown around by the guy who had semi-retired and whose job I had filled. We were walking around Kauffman Stadium, starting in the press box, then down to the field before the game during batting practice. We walked up to an older gentleman who was standing next to the screen. This guy was probably in his late 80s and my sportswriter friend introduces him as Buck O'Neil. Buck shook my hand and repeated my name, saying "Hello, Joe, nice to meet you."

We talked for about 5 minutes, my sportswriter buddy and Buck doing most of the actual talking, and then said pleasantries and went on our way.

Well I didn't see Buck again until the next season, when I again ran into him at Kauffman Stadium. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Hi, Joe," as if we were long lost buds. I was floored that he remembered who I was from that one 5-minute conversation, much less that he remembered my name. I would talk with him a handful of times before he eventually died about 10 years ago. He was a special human being.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

I've got plenty of stories, many of them uninteresting - many celebrities act no different from "regular people" - having worked special events in college and in the sports media for quite a few years after college.

One fun brush I had was while in college. I was up in Ruidoso, NM, which is a popular ski town in southern New Mexico. Ted Turner and Jane Fonda used to hang there quite a bit. I think they owned a cabin on the mountain. Anyway, there is a decent steak house in town called Cattle Baron and I was waiting for a table on a Saturday evening. A popular time for sure and the place was plenty busy. Ted and Jane walked in, and Jane went up to the host to ask for a table. The gentleman who was the host told Jane it would be at least 45 minutes before they could be seated.

Jane pitched a little fit. Pulled the "don't you know who we are?" card. The host simply smiled and said, "Yes, I know who you are and what you stand for. Your chances of getting a table anytime soon are between slim and none."

Needless to say Jane and Ted sought dinner elsewhere.

Shoulda told her there are plenty of open tables in Hanoi.

 

[GMO415]

Can't give away how I met the following people but here they are:

President Trump, Obama, and Clinton
Michael and Janet Jackson
Kobe Bryant
Maloof Brothers
Kim Kardashian
Shaq
Spinderella from Salt and Pepper
Joe Pescie
Drew Berrymore
Danny Bonaducie
several Playboy Playmates

 

[LocimusPrime]

• Emitt
• Michael Irvin
• Troy
• Dat
• Zeke
• Dez
• Cole
• Jason terry
• Mark Cuban
• Jerry Jones
• Shaq
• TO
• Post Malone
• Jamie Fox
• George Bush
• Paul Okenfold
• Roy Jones jr
• Nick diaz
• Lady gaga
• Herschel walker
• JJ barea
• Pretty much all the new cowboys
• Oh and one of the kids from ET

Prolly forgetting some. Just off the top of my head. Laterzzzzzz

 

[Runwildboys]

Can't give away how I met the following people but here they are:

President Trump, Obama, and Clinton
Michael and Janet Jackson
Kobe Bryant
Maloof Brothers
Kim Kardashian
Shaq
Spinderella from Salt and Pepper
Joe Pescie
Drew Berrymore
Danny Bonaducie
several Playboy Playmates

I KNEW IT! YOU'RE HUGH HEFNER!!!!!

 

[rynochop]

I played craps next to Rodney Dangerfield in Vegas back in the mid 90s..he didn't say much at all. He 7ed out and left..some clown said cmon show him some respect, kinda funny. He was with some 6 foot tall blonde with the shortest mini skirt lol. She was why I stopped at the table

 

[GMO415]

I KNEW IT! YOU'RE HUGH HEFNER!!!!!

Isn't he dead? Hahhaha

 

[CouchCoach]

Isn't he dead? Hahhaha

He is but it will be another year before the Viagra wears off enough to embalm him. Hefner gave new meaning to the term "stiff".

 

[Runwildboys]

Isn't he dead? Hahhaha

Judging by all his pictures over the last decade, I think he's been dead for quite some time, and they did a Weekend at Bernie's thing with his body. Every picture has the exact same look on his face, like the Viagra made his smile bigger too.